Debra Caplan | CUNY - Baruch College (original) (raw)

Articles by Debra Caplan

Performance Research, 2018

This article considers how the landscape of writing and digital media has changed since the publi... more This article considers how the landscape of writing and digital media has changed since the publication of Performance Research's 2013 special issue on the subject.

Theatre Journal, 2015

The current landscape of digital humanities contributions to theatre studies contains many projec... more The current landscape of digital humanities contributions to theatre studies contains many projects (four of which I review here) that point toward how the digital humanities will impact our field. To my knowledge, this is the first piece in an academic theatre journal to review digital scholarship. If digital projects are to be a major part of theatre studies, then it is essential that we as a scholarly community create dedicated space to review these digital humanities products alongside more traditional kinds of research output. In 2014, the ATHE–ASTR Joint Subcommittee on Non-Print Book Publishing released its white paper, “The Value of Electronic Publishing for Scholars in Theatre and Performance,” which called on the field to expand criteria for tenure and promotion to “include peer-reviewed electronic publications of substantial research projects on a par with print publications.” In order to facilitate this peer-review process, the subcommittee recommended that “journals represented by our scholarly organizations . . . should devote space to peer review of digital scholarship in addition to book review sections.” This essay responds to this call and represents an initial attempt to consider born-digital theatre scholarship alongside the print publications typically reviewed in this section.

Theatre Survey 55.3, Sep 2014

Consider an unlikely scenario. In the midst of World War I, a motley group of Jewish refugees in ... more Consider an unlikely scenario. In the midst of World War I, a motley group of Jewish refugees in their teens and early twenties becomes obsessed with the idea of creating a “Yiddish art theatre” modeled upon Stanislavski's famous Russian company. By day they work as laborers, storekeepers, housepainters, and wartime smugglers; by night they teach themselves the basics of acting and stagecraft from outdated Russian and German books. The only theatre building where they can afford to perform is a dilapidated former circus on the outskirts of town, repurposed by the German army as a military stable. The roof leaks, and the stage reeks of horse dung. It is a bitterly cold winter, and since there is no money for heat, the actors rehearse with frozen limbs and thaw their stage makeup over the footlights. They eat one meal a day—a single boiled potato—and rehearsals are routinely interrupted when actors faint from hunger.

Modern Drama, Jun 2015

This article considers the Yiddish-language response to Death of a Salesman as an essential compo... more This article considers the Yiddish-language response to Death of a Salesman as an essential component of the play’s reception history. I examine how Yiddish adaptations of Salesman subtly subverted Miller’s pro-acculturation message through a mechanism that I call counter-adaptation, which I define as an adaptive mode used by a culture on the margins to counteract the agenda of the original while simultaneously performing loyalty to it. Moreover, I document how Miller’s support for a Yiddish production of Salesman in New York sheds new light on the playwright’s contested relationship with his Jewish identity and reveals that Miller was far more willing to concede the Loman family’s Jewishness in this period than has previously been suggested. In arguing that we cannot accurately interpret post-war American dramatists like Miller without examining the Yiddish record, I am advocating for a multilingual corrective to American theatre scholarship at large.

Comparative Drama, May 2011

New England Theatre Journal, 2012

Women Writers of Yiddish Literature: Critical Essays, 2015

The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, Magda Romanska, ed. (London; New York: Routledge, 2014), 1... more The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, Magda Romanska, ed. (London; New York: Routledge, 2014), 141-144.

Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy, 2013

Public Scholarship by Debra Caplan

Pakn Treger 69 (Summer 2014)

Books by Debra Caplan

Papers by Debra Caplan

Theatre Survey, 2014

Consider an unlikely scenario. In the midst of World War I, a motley group of Jewish refugees in ... more Consider an unlikely scenario. In the midst of World War I, a motley group of Jewish refugees in their teens and early twenties becomes obsessed with the idea of creating a “Yiddish art theatre” modeled upon Stanislavski's famous Russian company. By day they work as laborers, storekeepers, housepainters, and wartime smugglers; by night they teach themselves the basics of acting and stagecraft from outdated Russian and German books. The only theatre building where they can afford to perform is a dilapidated former circus on the outskirts of town, repurposed by the German army as a military stable. The roof leaks, and the stage reeks of horse dung. It is a bitterly cold winter, and since there is no money for heat, the actors rehearse with frozen limbs and thaw their stage makeup over the footlights. They eat one meal a day—a single boiled potato—and rehearsals are routinely interrupted when actors faint from hunger.

Performance Research, 2018

This article considers how the landscape of writing and digital media has changed since the publi... more This article considers how the landscape of writing and digital media has changed since the publication of Performance Research's 2013 special issue on the subject.

Theatre Journal, 2015

The current landscape of digital humanities contributions to theatre studies contains many projec... more The current landscape of digital humanities contributions to theatre studies contains many projects (four of which I review here) that point toward how the digital humanities will impact our field. To my knowledge, this is the first piece in an academic theatre journal to review digital scholarship. If digital projects are to be a major part of theatre studies, then it is essential that we as a scholarly community create dedicated space to review these digital humanities products alongside more traditional kinds of research output. In 2014, the ATHE–ASTR Joint Subcommittee on Non-Print Book Publishing released its white paper, “The Value of Electronic Publishing for Scholars in Theatre and Performance,” which called on the field to expand criteria for tenure and promotion to “include peer-reviewed electronic publications of substantial research projects on a par with print publications.” In order to facilitate this peer-review process, the subcommittee recommended that “journals represented by our scholarly organizations . . . should devote space to peer review of digital scholarship in addition to book review sections.” This essay responds to this call and represents an initial attempt to consider born-digital theatre scholarship alongside the print publications typically reviewed in this section.

Theatre Survey 55.3, Sep 2014

Consider an unlikely scenario. In the midst of World War I, a motley group of Jewish refugees in ... more Consider an unlikely scenario. In the midst of World War I, a motley group of Jewish refugees in their teens and early twenties becomes obsessed with the idea of creating a “Yiddish art theatre” modeled upon Stanislavski's famous Russian company. By day they work as laborers, storekeepers, housepainters, and wartime smugglers; by night they teach themselves the basics of acting and stagecraft from outdated Russian and German books. The only theatre building where they can afford to perform is a dilapidated former circus on the outskirts of town, repurposed by the German army as a military stable. The roof leaks, and the stage reeks of horse dung. It is a bitterly cold winter, and since there is no money for heat, the actors rehearse with frozen limbs and thaw their stage makeup over the footlights. They eat one meal a day—a single boiled potato—and rehearsals are routinely interrupted when actors faint from hunger.

Modern Drama, Jun 2015

This article considers the Yiddish-language response to Death of a Salesman as an essential compo... more This article considers the Yiddish-language response to Death of a Salesman as an essential component of the play’s reception history. I examine how Yiddish adaptations of Salesman subtly subverted Miller’s pro-acculturation message through a mechanism that I call counter-adaptation, which I define as an adaptive mode used by a culture on the margins to counteract the agenda of the original while simultaneously performing loyalty to it. Moreover, I document how Miller’s support for a Yiddish production of Salesman in New York sheds new light on the playwright’s contested relationship with his Jewish identity and reveals that Miller was far more willing to concede the Loman family’s Jewishness in this period than has previously been suggested. In arguing that we cannot accurately interpret post-war American dramatists like Miller without examining the Yiddish record, I am advocating for a multilingual corrective to American theatre scholarship at large.

Comparative Drama, May 2011

New England Theatre Journal, 2012

Women Writers of Yiddish Literature: Critical Essays, 2015

The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, Magda Romanska, ed. (London; New York: Routledge, 2014), 1... more The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, Magda Romanska, ed. (London; New York: Routledge, 2014), 141-144.

Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy, 2013

Pakn Treger 69 (Summer 2014)

Theatre Survey, 2014

Consider an unlikely scenario. In the midst of World War I, a motley group of Jewish refugees in ... more Consider an unlikely scenario. In the midst of World War I, a motley group of Jewish refugees in their teens and early twenties becomes obsessed with the idea of creating a “Yiddish art theatre” modeled upon Stanislavski's famous Russian company. By day they work as laborers, storekeepers, housepainters, and wartime smugglers; by night they teach themselves the basics of acting and stagecraft from outdated Russian and German books. The only theatre building where they can afford to perform is a dilapidated former circus on the outskirts of town, repurposed by the German army as a military stable. The roof leaks, and the stage reeks of horse dung. It is a bitterly cold winter, and since there is no money for heat, the actors rehearse with frozen limbs and thaw their stage makeup over the footlights. They eat one meal a day—a single boiled potato—and rehearsals are routinely interrupted when actors faint from hunger.

Studies in American Jewish Literature (1981-), 2014

Modern Drama, May 7, 2015

This article considers the Yiddish-language response to Death of a Salesman as an essential compo... more This article considers the Yiddish-language response to Death of a Salesman as an essential component of the play’s reception history. I examine how Yiddish adaptations of Salesman subtly subverted Miller’s pro-acculturation message through a mechanism that I call counter-adaptation, which I define as an adaptive mode used by a culture on the margins to counteract the agenda of the original while simultaneously performing loyalty to it. Moreover, I document how Miller’s support for a Yiddish production of Salesman in New York sheds new light on the playwright’s contested relationship with his Jewish identity and reveals that Miller was far more willing to concede the Loman family’s Jewishness in this period than has previously been suggested. In arguing that we cannot accurately interpret post-war American dramatists like Miller without examining the Yiddish record, I am advocating for a multilingual corrective to American theatre scholarship at large.